JOHNMWILLIS BLOG

I am sure that this question has many answers, but here are a few of mine.

They might be embarrassed by their code.The idea of open source code is that lot of eye-balls look at the source code. In proprietary software companies, fewer than 5 people might actually look at the source code of every program. In fact, in most proprietary companies if the code gets through QA without any issues, the only person likely to see it is the developer.

They might not have the source for all the models.

I once worked on a beta program for which the proprietary company was trying to port an application to a Mainframe Linux. When I talked to the developer, he told me that the company had to rewrite a number of source modules because no one could find the source. I know at least one large proprietary product that has an embedded interpreter that is owned by one of its primary competitors. This situation occurred because a third-party company was hired to develop the interpreter and was then subsequently acquired by the competitor.

Legal issues.I once worked on a project in which a lot of scripted source code from a previous version of a product was converted for the new release. The obvious answer was to make all the deprecated code available to the customers. When the legal department was involved, however, it found that a lot of the comments in the code might cause risky liabilities.

Should give some context to what I’m asking to explain better.
- I don’t hear from customers a demand to open source management products. As you’ve stated, they ask better ROI, they want software that actually works , they want better/easier integration. If anything I see a trend on the other direction to reduce “custom” parts of the solutions they use. Less inhouse/custom development, more vendor maintained product.
- No doubt they would have to react if they start loosing market share and revenues declining. But I see no business model where open sourcing a product would enable them to sustain the revenue streams they have. A lot of business models are being tried right now. If a winning model emerges, it may attract the interest of the proprietary vendors…